Mick Fanning describes fighting off sharks during surfing contest
Monday 20 July 2015 10:17, UK
Three-time world surfing champion Mick Fanning is counting his lucky stars after fighting off a shark attack - and the whole encounter was broadcast live on television.
The incredible TV footage shows the Australian in the sea waiting to catch his first wave in the final of the J-Bay Open in Jeffreys Bay, South Africa, when a shark fin appeared behind him.
In a flurry of splashing, Fanning managed to punch one of two sharks in the back and, despite being knocked off his board by one of them, escaped without any injuries.
His mum says she was watching on live TV at home, terrified her son was going to die.
A very emotional Fanning was interviewed shortly afterwards when he was safe on shore.
He said: "All of a sudden, I just had this instinct that something was behind me.
"And then all of a sudden, I felt like I started getting pulled under water. Then the shark came up, and I was on my board and it was like right there, and I saw the whole thing thrashing around.
"I was getting dragged under by my leg [rope], and then I felt like it kicked me off, but it was still there, and I was still attached to my board. I felt like it was dragging me under water, and then my leg rope broke, and I started swimming and screaming."
He added: "I just saw the fin, I didn’t see the teeth. I was waiting for the teeth to come at me as I was swimming ... I punched it in the back."
Fanning managed to swim away to eventually climb on board a rescue jet-ski.
"I was swimming and screaming," he said. "And then I was just swimming in. I just turned around - I just had this thought 'what happens if it comes to have another go at me' and so I just turned around so I could at least see it coming. Before I knew it the boat was there, the jet skis were there and we were in safety.
"Yeah, I just can't believe it, I'm just tripping out. It's just kicking in. To walk away from that, I’m just so stoked.”
His shocked mother feared she had lost another son, following the death in a car crash almost 17 years ago of Fanning's brother.
"I was so scared. I just thought when that wave came through that he'd gone," mum Elizabeth Osborne told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, adding that she went over to the TV "almost as though I could pull him out... to save him.
"It's the worst thing I've ever seen happen to any of my family because it was just there in front of me," she said while fighting back tears.
"When Sean was killed in the car accident, I didn't see it. I saw this just in front of me. It was just terrible."
The World Surf League cancelled the competition after discussions with both surfers.
